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Sunday, July 24, 2016

"Pink Houses" by John Cougar Mellencamp

Top 10 Alert!
Song#:  1728
Date:  12/10/1983
Debut:  45
Peak:  8
Weeks:  16
Genre:  Rock



Pop Bits:  Mellencamp's album Uh-Huh produced his third Top 10 hit "Crumblin' Down." It would hit #9 at Pop and #2 at Rock. This follow-up single would do just as well reaching #8 Pop and #3 Rock. The hits helped to get the album to #9, which was a bit of a dip after his #1 LP American Fool, but it was still highly successful selling 3 million copies over time.

ReduxReview:  I knew I kind of liked this song back in the day, but because I was a bit anti-Mellencamp at the time I chose to ignore it. What a dope. After I finally became a Mellencamp fan, this song quickly became a favorite from his catalog. I always found it kind of funny that this song is about how the American dream had kind of disappeared, yet folks will use it as some kind of pro-America anthem. The same thing would happen with Springsteen's "Born in the U.S.A." I think this song speaks volumes and is still relevant today. It's one of Mellencamp's best songs.

ReduxRating:  9/10

Trivia:  Here is another song that got stuck in an interesting cross promotion for MTV. The channel decided to hold a contest where the winner would actually get a pink house in Mellencamp's home state of Indiana. A pink house was found for sale and purchased at what seemed like a bargain price. Unfortunately, there was a reason for the low cost - the house was located across from a toxic waste dump. Not wanting the bad publicity and everything that went with the house's location, another home was found and purchased. However, it was not pink so they had to have it painted. A winner was chosen to receive the house. The other home by the dump remained in the possession of MTV for years after until they were finally able to get rid of it.
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